Telephone-directory holder.



PATENTED OUT. 24, 1905.

L. ST. J. JOHNSON.

TELEPHONE DIRECTORY HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 21, 1903.

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OFFICE.

TELEPHONE-IDlRECTORY HOLDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 24, 1905.

Application filed May 21, 1903. Serial No. 158,127.

T0 whom, it Inn/7 concern:

Be itknown thatI, LoUIs ST. J. JoHNsoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Baltimore, in the State of Maryland. have invented a new and useful Telephone-Directory Holder, of which the following is a specification.

This invention appertains to telephone-directory holders, and provides means for holding a telephone-directory or other book of a like character in such a manner that it may be readily opened or quickly detached from its support. The construction of a device made in accord with my invention provides, in addition to the holder or clamp for the directory,a supplemental cover therefonsuch cover constituting a memoranda-tablet maintained so as not to interfere with the opening, closing, or removal of the directory from the holder, and when the directory is removed the tablet will be in position for use, the same resting upon the base or lower member of the clip.

A telephone-directory holder should be constructed in such a manner that the directory can be opened with one hand and so that the directory can be readily removed from the holder. There should be present a tablet or writing surface for memoranda, calls, and the like. It is also desirable to provide means for removably connecting the tablet to the clip and to provide means to hold the directory closed when not in use and a marker to hold the pages separated at a particular place. Such features are present in a directory or book holder made in accord with my invention.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a telephone-directory holder made in accord with my invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation viewed from the lower end of the holder. Figs. 3 and A are end elevations of modifications of the invention, and Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the leafholder.

Referring to the drawings, A designates a base-board or lower member of a clip made of any suitable material, the same being provided with means for attaching such lower member to a wall or other support, the connecting means preferably comprising hinges a a and a jointed arm a, the members thereof when in line maintaining the baseboard or lower member of the clip at an angle to the wall to provide a convenient writing-surface, and when the joint of the arm is broken the base-board will depend from the hinges substantially parallel with the wall.

To the upper left-hand side of the baseboard or lower member of the clip there is pivoted a clamping-jaw B, having on one side of its fulcrum a projecting or grasping member and on the other side a jaw constructed in such a manner as to engage the directory at its back and along the top preferably in line with the binding-staples. The two points of engagement of the clamping-jaw with the book are both slightly below the outer end of the jaw, which in use will be slightly above the front page of the book, or, in other words, the forward edge of the upper jaw of the clamp when in engagement with a book lies in a plane above the plane of the upper page of the book.

The outer portion of the upper member of the clamp holds in hinged or swinging engagement therewith a tablet having a slated surface from which pencil-marks may be readily erased, such tablet O consisting of a single sheet or of a plurality of sheets. As shown by Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the tablet O has attached thereto a strip a of flexible material, as cloth, which forms a hinged connection between the tablet and the pivoted clamping-jaw B. The jaw B has attached to the under side thereof a rigid or metallic strip B, the outer edge being held in line with the outer edge of the clip, and between the outer edge and the screws which connect the strip B to the movable jaw there is a curved depending portion Z), which bears upon the book practically in line with the staples therethrough or above the binding-stitches. The strip B has a downward extending portion 6', the front edge thereof abutting against the back of the book, and such depending portion forms a stop, which prevents the book when placed beneath the movable jaw of the clamp being passed beyond the depending portion or stop. The lower part of the clip or clamp may be constructed to provide stops or shoulders 5 which will be in line with the depending portion or stops 6, formed on or carried by the movable jaw of the clamp. and when such stops are not present on the lower jaw astrip b may be attached to the base-board A.

The jaws of the clamp will be forced toward each other by a suitable spring D. The base A has attached to its face, so as to engage the upper edge of the tablet near its right-hand corner to hold the tablet and cover closed or parallel with the base-board, a catch E, constructed to present a projecting portion a for engagement with the tablet when the directory is not in use, and said part will when the directory is opened pass'between the leaves. Thus the catch not only serves to hold the directory closed, but also as a marker when in use.

The clip shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings has its clamping end shaped to receive a pintle, which also engages the eyes formed upon the inner end portion of a hinged clamp F between the jaws of the clamp. The edge of a tablet or silicate slate may be passed and held by frictional engagement therewith. The hinged strip or clamp F is engaged by a flat spring G of any suitable construction and dimensions, which is carried by the movable jaw of the clip, and such spring will hold the hinged clamping-leaf and the tablet carried thereby in engagement with the outer leaf of the book or against the movable member of the clip.

In Fig. A of the drawings I have shown a further modification, the clip A being of the wire-coil-spring type, each spring carrying a longitudinal strip G with a depressed portion Z) and a hinged clamped F for the tablet O.

Having thus set forth my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A book or directory holder comprising a flat book-supporting base, a clamping-jaw attached adjacent to one of the side edges thereof, a stop attached to the base to be parallel with the side to which the clamping-jaw is attached, and means carried by the movable jaw of the clamp to maintain in hinged engagement therewith a tablet or writing surface, the construction being such that the tablet may rest either upon the base or upon a book held thereon.

2. A book holder and support consisting of a clamp having a' flat lower member, a springdepressed member in movable engagement therewith and provided with a depending portion parallel with the clamping part of the movable member of the clamp, and means for attaching to the spring-depressed member beyond the clamping portion thereof a rigid tablet, for the purpose set forth.

3. A book holder and support consisting of a base, a clamp attached adjacent to one of the longitudinal edges of the base and provided with a movable jaw, a stop located nearer to the edge of the base than the movable jaw of the clamp, and a supplemental jaw carried by the movable jaw, whereby a book may be held upon the base and a tablet in swinging engagement with the jaw that holds the book upon the base.

4%. A book-holder comprising a rigid lower member, a spring-actuated member carried thereby, a stop which projects from the movable member toward the other member, a bookengaging part within the front edge of the spring-actuated member, and a rigid writingsurface maintained in hinged engagement with the movable member of the holder and adapted to rest upon a book when held in the holder, for the purpose set forth.

5. In a book-holder, the combination with a spring-actuated clamp adapted to hold a tablet or writing surface in hinged engagement therewith, of tablet-engaging means attached to the base for holding the tablet in engagement with the coverof a book when such book is held by the clamp, substantially as shown.

6. In a book-holder, the combination with a spring-depressed member of a clamp and a flat member or base to which the clamp is attached, of a tablet maintained in hinged engagement with the spring-depressed member of the clamp, a movable catch carried by the base said catch having an inward-projecting portion for engagement with the tablet, substantially as shown.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two sub scribing witnesses.

LOUIS ST. J. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

A. S. TOWNSEND, R. U. KELLER. 

